Before making it the Petersen Events Center to play for a WPIAL Class 3A crown Thursday night, the North Catholic girls basketball team has something more important to do.

The Trojanettes have to comfort a teammate.

Amid her team’s playoff voyage, senior starter Anastasia Peterson’s mother passed away last Friday. Peterson will be joined by her coaches and teammates at her mother’s funeral Thursday morning.

“Our biggest goal is (to) be there to support each other and make everyone better,” North coach Molly Rottman said. “We’re just trying to rally around Anastasia and play for her and play for her mom and support her.”

The lead-up to the Trojanettes’ eighth-consecutive WPIAL title game appearance has provided no shortage of hardship, as four different girls saw their seasons cut short by injury.

Sophomore Ava Walker, the team’s leading rebounder a year ago, was set to be a returning starter before tearing her ACL in October. Freshman Sarah Loughry took her place in the lineup, then suffered the same injury in North’s first meeting with Freedom. Peterson took over for Loughry.

“The journey has been (that) we’ve lost two starters to ACL (injuries), we’ve lost a sixth or seventh man (Lauren Mealie) to an ACL, (and) we have a junior (Annabelle Pawlowicz) out with an ankle (injury),” Rottman said. “We’ve had to adjust and now people are put into different roles that they wouldn’t necessarily have played.”

In the opposite corner of the championship matchup will be section foe Freedom, who the Trojanettes have already dispatched twice this campaign. North beat the Bulldogs, 64-49, at home on Dec. 16. Freedom kept closer in the teams’ second meeting, bowing 52-47.

The familiarity can be more of a help than it is a detriment, Rottman said. She pointed to the boys’ side, where undefeated North Hills recently downed North Allegheny for the fourth time this year.

“You sort of know what you’re going to get, so that part of the preparation is a little bit easier,” Rottman said. “Freedom is going to be focused. They’re competitors. I think it’s going to be a battle, which is what you want.”

Rottman knows just what to expect from the Bulldog attack.

“Everything goes through Renae (Mohrbacher), the point guard,” Rottman said. “She does a nice job. She sort of wills her way to the basket and she finds the open teammates when she’s doubled.”

Mohrbacher paced the Bulldogs with 13 points in their semifinal triumph over second-seeded Avonworth. Freedom held the Antelopes scoreless in the opening frame and allowed them only one field goal in the first half in what wound up being a 32-19 win.

Overall, sophomore guard Shaye Bailey has been the leading scorer for a Bulldogs team that has lost only once in its last 17 outings. Freedom has permitted only 36.6 points per game and held 10 opponents under 40 points in that same span.

North also hit its stride at the right time, stringing together seven straight wins before bowing to Bethel Park at the buzzer in its season finale. The Trojanettes average 57.7 points per game, the second-most in the classification.

“We purposely try to stack our schedule towards the end to try to get ready for playoffs,” Rottman said. “Ultimately, I don’t care about wins and losses. I want to make sure that we’re getting better.”

A win for the Trojanettes would mean their fifth WPIAL crown in six years and first in Class 3A.